Powerwave cuts staff, plans to liquidate

Wireless antenna and amplifier maker Powerwave Technologies, Inc. will lay off 182 employees at its Santa Ana headquarters on April 1, according to a report filed with the state's Employment Development Department.

The company did not return calls to explain the layoffs, which affect all levels of the organization. Jobs in assembly, management and various executive positions are listed in the filing. That includes the company's chief operating, financial and information officers.

Powerwave employs 226 people in the United States, according court documents filed in January when the company sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had as many as 4,795 workers eight years ago. By 2011, its workforce was cut in half.

The Santa Ana office is one of eight locations that Powerwave considers a "significant facility". It is unclear if workers in those other locations - in Texas, Europe and Asia - will also have staff cuts.

In its bankruptcy filing, Powerwave cited declining revenue caused by a drop in demand, downward pricing pressures and global economic conditions. The company's customers were a handful of equipment manufacturers and wireless network operators such as AT&T Inc. Consolidation and reduced spending by network operators cut into Powerwave's business, according the company's quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For the past few years, Powerwave has tried to save its business by cutting jobs and closing locations. The company sold its Santa Ana headquarters in 2011 and borrowed $35 million in September from P-Wave Holdings, LLC, which is an affiliate of the Los Angeles private equity firm The Gores Group.

P-Wave declared the manufacturer in default and "swept" $8.3 million from the company's cash accounts in January, according to statements made by Powerwave president and CEO Ronald J. Buschur in court documents. Buschur explained that this action led to a "severe liquidity crisis" that prompted the bankruptcy request.

Buschur hoped that government protection would allow the company to "undertake an orderly restructuring or sale process." Since then, Powerwave has said it plans to auction its assets on April 8.

In addition to office and manufacturing supplies and equipment, Powerwave owns a 246,000-square-foot office in Kempele, Finland, and a manufacturing facility that occupies 135,000 square feet in Laem Chabang, Thailand. The firm is a lessee of its other buildings, including its Orange County headquarters.

At its peak, Powerwave reported a $45.9 million profit on $447.4 million in sales in 2000. The company has operated at a loss for eight of the past 10 years, and lost $151.8 million in the first nine months of 2012.

Founded in 1985, the company has been publicly traded since 1996. Its shares traded at an all-time high of $369.09 in Dec. 8, 2000, on the NASDAQ exchange. It was delisted shortly after the bankruptcy filing and was trading over the counter for 3 cents per share on Wednesday.